Significant Changes Anticipated in Marvel Studios’ Agreement with Sony Pictures — Focused on Villain Usage

Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to Spider-Man in the late 1990s, resulting in the creation of multiple Spider-Man films, beginning with Sam Raimi’s trilogy starring Tobey Maguire.

As Marvel Studios began crafting its own cinematic universe in the late 2000s, it did not hold the rights to Spider-Man and instead concentrated on characters it owned, such as Iron Man and Thor.

Considering that The Amazing Spider-Man films starring Garfield underperformed, the newly formed MCU needed one of its most beloved and profitable characters. A deal was struck, and Tom Holland became the MCU’s Spider-Man.

Simultaneously, Sony was working on its own cinematic universe known as the SSU—Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. While this universe currently lacks Spider-Man, it includes several films centered around Spider-Man’s supporting characters, such as Morbius, Venom, and Madame Web.

This year, we can expect two new SSU installments: Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter.

We previously reported that Sony and Marvel are set to renegotiate their deal, and additional details have emerged focusing on villains.

According to Chad Ryan of The Geeky Cast, Sony will now notify Marvel Studios about which Spider-Man-related villains will feature in its non-MCU projects, preventing Marvel from using those characters for at least 30 days following the Sony film’s VOD release.

This change could pave the way for Kraven the Hunter to join the MCU, likely as a new variant, assuming Marvel fulfills the required conditions. This shift is intended to improve communication and grant Marvel greater flexibility in utilizing villains they wish to include, such as Kraven, who was initially intended for No Way Home but could not be included due to Sony’s plans for an origin story.

Moreover, any future Marvel films produced by Sony will need to have budgets of at least $75 million and be released in a minimum of 2,000 U.S. theaters. Overall, these adjustments indicate a restructured deal that could benefit both the MCU and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

The newly reported agreement suggests that rumors of Knull potentially becoming the villain in Spider-Man 4 are not far-fetched, and we might also see Venom and Carnage join the mix.

While the future of the SSU remains uncertain, recent reports indicate that Sony is not backing down from its cinematic universe despite a series of significant failures.

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